Method of drying stockings



y 1940- -F. SCHUSTER 2.200.191

METHOD OF DRYING STOCKINGS Filed Nov. 24, 1937 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 y 1940- F. SCHUS4TER 2.200.191

METHOD OF DRYING STOCKINGS Filed Nov. 24, 1937 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 May 7, 1940.

SCHUSTER METHOD OF DRYING STOCKINGS Filed NOV. 24, 193'? 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 7, 1940- F. SCHUSTER 2.200.191

METHOD OF DRYING swocxmes 7 Filed Nov. 24, 1937 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 4. ff/7 e )or: v W? 3 weals are caused to be even more prominent.

Patented May 7, 1940 PATENT cities I 2,200,191 1VIETHOD 0F DRYING STOCKINGS Fritz Schuster, Chemnitz, Germany Application November 24, 1937, Serial No. 176,329

' In Germany November 27, 1936 2 Claims.

This invention relates to a methodof drying stockings, and more particularly dyed stockings.

Heretofore stockings, after being treated in a centrifugal apparatus, have been suspended in a drying chamber, or have been preliminarily dried in loose heaps in drying machines. This drying of the stockings is necessary to. enable the stockings upon the subsequent treatment to be drawn in a dry condition over the treatment forms. The fabric of a wet or moist stocking has considerably less strength than when the fabric is dry, so that wet or moist stockings when drawn tightly over the treatment forms are liable to F lose their shape or become damaged. 7

Upon carrying out the dyeing and drying process stripes and weals are produced on the stockings owing to the dyestuff. In the dyeing process the stockings acquire folds and creases, in which particles of the dyestuff accumulate, and since these folds or creases are still present whenthe stockings are dried, the stripes and weals still appear on the stockings when the drying has been completed. During the drying process the dyestufi is caused to harden in the folds and creases r where it has settled-and thus the dyed stocking exhibits stripes and like disfigurations.

After the dyeing process the stockings are treated in centrifugal apparatus, and owing to the high pressure in the latter the stripes and p to now it has been possible to remove these disfigurations only by special apparatus and auxiliary means, which are usually complicated and comparatively expensive to use.

It has already been proposed to hang woollen or cotton stockings loosely and singly in a drying chamber, into which there is injected a current of hot air.- Stockings, however, which are composed of silk or artificial silk cannot be dried in this fashion, as they are caused to fold together under the impact of the current of air, and stripes and disfigurations are likewise produced in the fine and sensitive silk or artificial silk fabric.

It has also been proposed heretofore for the purpose of drying garments to secure the latter firmly and to inject air into the hollow of the garment. In silk and artificial silk stockings a method of this nature is quite impracticable, not 50 only on account of the sensitive nature of the fabric, which may readily be damaged, but also owing to the shape.

It is the object of the invention to eliminatev the disadvantages aforesaid, and in the accomplishment of this and other objects and advantages, which will become apparent as the description proceeds, the invention comprises a method of drying stockings, which consists in placing the stockings, after the treatment in the centrifugal apparatus, over upright supports, on which they are not stretched, but on which they are capable of fluttering motion under the impact of the air in the drying chamber.

By this method a folding together of the stockings is quite impossible. The entire fabric of the stocking is in continuous irregular movement, and during the latter the stocking is dried by the current'oi air.

Tests have shown that in the case of stockings dried in this fashion the stripes and weals disappear. Since the stocking during this drying process is enabled to contract evenly by reason of its natural shrinkage the fabric acquires a perfectly even character, so that the complicated subsequent treatment of the stockings hitherto required can be considerably cut down and simplified.

The upright supporting means for the stockings can be disposed in fixed location in a closed chamber in which'air is caused to move. It is, however, also possible to make these supporting means of a moving kind, 1. e., to provide the same in series disposal on chains, in the manner known per'se in treatment machines. The supporting means themselves may be of varying form. The most simple embodiment is a flat sheet metal bar. It is, however, also possible to make the supporting means of sheets bent along the longitudinal middle axis, whereby the fluttering wavelike motion of the fabric caused by the current of air is particularly assisted.

The upright supporting means are preferably disposed between the moving forms of a stocking machine equipped with a drying chamber.

. The invention will now be described more fully with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which Fig. 1 is an elevation view of an apparatus having fixed supporting means for the drying of stockings.

Fig. 2 is a front view of Fig. 1.

- Fig. 3 is a plan view of Fig, 1.

Fig. 4 is an elevational view of a drying apparatus having moving supporting means.

Fig. 5 is a plan view of Fig. l.

Fig. 6shows in elevation a group of moving supporting means.

Fig. 7 is a plan view of Fig. 6.

Fig.- 8 is an elevational view of a modified embodiment of the moving supporting means. 55

Fig. 9 is a plan view of Fig. 8.

Fig. 10 shows in elevation moving supporting means alternating with moving forms on a stocking shaping machine.

Fig. 11 is a plan view of Fig. 10.

Fig. 12 shows a stocking shaping and treating machine equipped with supporting means for drying the stockings.

The drying apparatus illustrated in Figs. 1 to 3 comprises a table frame I, on which there are mounted upright supporting means 2. As shown by Figs. 2 and 3, three groups of supporting means are provided. Fig. 2 discloses that the support-' ing means consist of slightly tapered stripsof sheet metal, over which the stockings are placed. The dimensions, and particularly the width, of these supporting means are such that each stocking is capable of moving freely on the support. Immediately hot air is conducted past the supports the stockings hanging loosely on the latter commence to flutter, resulting in the advantages above referred to.

As shown by Figs. 4 and 5, the supporting means 2 may also be arranged to be movable by means of a conveying chain or the like.

In the embodiment shown (Fig. 5) there are two rows of supporting means. The supporting means pass through a drying chamber 3, to which preferably pro-heated air is conducted by a blower 4. The application and removal of the stockings takes place at the end of the drying chamher at 4.

Fig. 6 shows the provision of upright moving supporting means on enlarged scale. In this embodiment two supports are mounted together on the chain. These two supports are themselves supported in the downward direction by an extension 5 against a guide 6. In Fig. '7 three rows of supports are provided on the conveying chain.

In the embodiment according to Figs. 8 and 9 there are employed as supporting means metal sheets 2a, which are bent along the longitudinal middle axis. As shown by Fig. 9, they may be mounted on the conveying chain with their concave sides directed towards each other. The bent form of the support assists the fluttering and wave-like motion of the stocking thereon.

The embodiment according to Figs. 10 and 11 shows on an enlarged scale two supports for drying the stockings disposed between two forms on which the stockings are placed after the drying treatment to be additionally treated in a ma chine of known kind. Fig. 10 shows that each two supports 2 are secured to the conveying chain and, as in the embodiment according to Fig. 6, are guided by extensions 5 in a lower guideway 6.

The attachment of the forms I to the chain and the supporting and guiding thereof in rela-v tion to the lower guide 6 is also efiected in similar fashion.

Fig. 12 shows the supports 2 and the forms 1 ac- I cording to Figs. 10 and 11 mounted in common on a' chain.

In the embodiment shown two treatment forms alternate in each case with two supports 2. The dried stockings are removed from the supports 2 at A and placed on the forms 1. The supports 2 continue in idle movement at B, while the stockings located on, the forms 7 are moistened in the moistening device 8 and treated by the rollers 9 in the treating device. The supports 2 run idly through these two devices. hind the roller treatment at C the wet dyed stock ings proceeding from the centrifugal apparatus 'are placedover the supports 2, and now move in common with the stockings on the treatment forms through the drying chamber 9a, finally again to reach the point A, where the stockings on the treatment forms are removed as finally shaped and treated stockings, whilst the stockings on the supports are now removed from the latter and placed over the treatment forms.

In this manner it is accomplished by reason of the new drying method that all colour stripes and weals are eliminated, whilst the fabric, owing to the free, even drying process, acquires a more uniform and even character.

What I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. A method of drying stockings, which consists in inserting into the stockings loosely fitting upright supports having a width smaller than the normal width of the stockingaand pass: ing the stockings on the said supports through a drying chamber, and subjecting the same to a current of air to effect a fluttering action of the stocking on the support.

2. The method of drying stockings, which consists in supporting the stockings loosely over upright supports inserted into the stocking and it. La

passing a current of air over the stockings to 

